Curated OER
What's the Matter? Where Did it Go?
Eighth graders analyze questions posted on a large poster in the room and work in groups to record their response to the question on paper, rotating to the next question after two minutes have passed. They review the characteristics of...
Curated OER
Rate of Solution
Eighth graders determine the amount of agitation necessary to dissolve various sized sugar particles. This task assess students' abilities to collect, organize, and interpret data, create appropriate graphs, predict future events based...
Curated OER
Characteristics of Materials
Students describe and compare common properties of various classroom materials. For this science/matter lesson, students observe common classroom items and the materials they are made of to complete a list of common properties.
Curated OER
A Model of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Ninth graders explain how a scanning tunneling microscope works. In this chemistry lesson plan, 9th graders construct atomic models and simulate how their images appear under the STM. They discuss the limitations of their atomic model.
Curated OER
What is That White Stuff?
Fifth graders identify, through experimentation, what properties of substance are, determine what variables tested will be, identify constants and variables of experiment, conduct experiment to conclusion with measurable, recorded...
Curated OER
Water and Ice: Part 1
Students observe the state changes in water. In this matter lesson, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. Students explore how water can change from a solid to a liquid then back again. They journal their...
Curated OER
Matter: Build a Word
Fourth graders examine matter and the periodic table of elements. In this matter lesson, 4th graders discuss atoms and their composition. Students explore the periodic table of elements and use it to spell words out of the elements.
Curated OER
A Chemist in My Class?
First graders in kindergarten science class discuss matter. They make predictions and then identify mystery items in brown paper bags as either solid, liquid, or gas by using their senses. They discuss that a chemist is a scientist that...
Curated OER
Facts of Matter
Pupils make group decisions about matter as they explore and interpret many types.
Curated OER
Matter
Students complete a unit of activities to learn about states of matter and how to measure matter. In this matter lesson, students complete 8 lessons to learn about matter, its states, and how to measure matter.
Curated OER
Classification of Matter
Pupils classify items according to their physical properties. In this chemistry lesson, students define what matter is in their own words. They use the matter diagram to organize different substances.
American Chemical Society
Colors Collide or Combine?
As part of a unit investigating the dissolving of M&Ms® candy coating, this lesson examines whether or not the different colors combine. There are no new concepts revealed in this particular lesson, but learners will see that the...
LABScI
Freezing Point Depression: Why Don’t Oceans Freeze?
Can you go ice fishing in the ocean? Learners examine the freezing point of different saltwater solutions. Each solution has a different concentration of salt. By comparing the freezing points graphically, they make conclusions...
PBS
Breaking it Down
After challenging themselves to correctly choose the form of erosion and length of time required for a given landform to develop, earth science class members model mechanical and chemical weathering with various lab demonstrations over...
Code.org
Number Systems
Generating a system of shapes. Groups work together to create a number system using three different shapes as symbols. The groups should come up with the rules that generate all the possible permutations of the three shapes.
University of Colorado
Happy Landings: A Splash or a Splat?
Huygens spacecraft landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, making it the farthest landing from Earth ever made by a spacecraft. In this hands-on activity, the 12th installment of 22, groups explore how density affects speed. To do this,...
Polar Trec
Down to the Deep Virtual Lab
At a depth of 3,000 m in the ocean, the pressure is 300 times that at sea level! In the activity, individuals predict what will happen to Styrofoam cups submerged 3,000 meters into the ocean. They then convert these units to soccer...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this lesson builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of the interiors of...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
All of the gas giant's atmospheres consist of hydrogen and helium, the same gases that make up all stars. The third in a series of 22, the activity challenges pupils to make scale models of the interiors of planets in order to...
Cornell University
Discovering Enzymes
Explore the function of enzymes through a series of lab investigations. Learners use household enzymes such as hydrogen peroxide to model the role of enzymes. The enzymes break down proteins with and without a catalyst.
Curated OER
Learning Cycle Lesson Plan
students investigate, develop inferences, and identify general descriptions for each of the three states of matter - solid, liquid, and gas. students investigate water, by observing and stating inferences about, the properties of each...
Curated OER
Touch and Discover
Students identify the physical properties of items using the sense of touch. In this touch and discover instructional activity, students describe items. Students sort items using a Venn diagram.
Curated OER
Anatomy of an Element
Learners discuss matter and atoms using this resource. First, they look at a website describing atoms. Then, they learn about the periodic table and discuss how it is organized. Finally, they create a comic strip to display their...
Curated OER
The Same But Different
Fourth graders identify the characteristics of a simple physical change. They describe objects by the properties of the materials from which they are made. Students discuss the different states of matter and their distinct physical...